Love

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

—Well, that was how it felt, he said. —Like we'd never been apart.

—But—.

—I know, he said. —I know. We'd never been much together. But I'm talking about feelings here, not facts. Feelings. The feel of the thing.

It sounded like something he'd said before. More than once.

LOVE

The Four Loves

* It's beside the point, but I feel compelled to list them: Affection (

), Friendship (

), Romantic (

), Charity (

).

There is a reason why men don't talk about their feelings. It's not just that it's difficult, or embarrassing. It's almost impossible. The words aren't really there

—The drink is funny, though, isn't it? You see things clearly but then you can't get at the words to express them properly.

—Or somethin'.

—Or somethin', yeah.

LOVE

—It's a thing abou' gettin' older, he said. —At least, I suppose it is. So many memories, you know. It become, harder to separate wha' happened from wha' might'ye happened an' wha' didn't happen but kind o' seemed to.

He was looking at me.

—Is it? he asked.

—Is memory reliable? I said. —Is that wha' you mean?

—I think so, yeah. yeah.

* Yeah, I know, I know. Roll with it, will you?

The Barrytown Trilogy

A Star Called Henry

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

The book is slow to start. It is also hard comprehend initially—is a book length dialog with interspersed timelines and characters, and few names.
Yet, by the time the key characters start getting drink, so did I start getting hooked on the slow, bubbling conversation.
Three book is nothing special. It's just two nearly 60yos spending an evening if drinking and talking, jumping back and forth over 30 years.
If there wasn't a pandemic around, I'd inviting friends over for a catch-up in Dublin tomorrow.